Perforations in bodily walls may be naturally occurring, or formed intentionally or unintentionally. In order to permanently close these perforations and allow the tissue to properly heal, numerous medical devices and methods have been developed employing sutures, adhesives, clips, staples and the like. One class of such devices is commonly referred to as tissue anchors, T-anchors or visceral anchors. Exemplary tissue anchors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,914 and U.S. application Ser. No. 11/946,565, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Tissue anchors typically include a crossbar or some anchoring member connected to suture. The anchoring member and suture may take many forms, but generally a needle is used to pierce tissue and deliver the anchoring member on one side of the tissue, leaving the suture extending back to the other side of the tissue. The sutures of one or more tissue anchors are collected and connected together, such as through tying the sutures together. A significant level of skill and coordination is required by the medical professional to tie such sutures together, especially when the tissue site is difficult to access within the body, such as in endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures. Suture locks may also be employed to help collect and connect the sutures together, and exemplary suture locks are disclosed in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 11/946,565 and 12/191,001, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.